The highly cited SARS research literature.

A chronically weak area in research papers, reports, and reviews is the complete identification of important background reference documents that formed the building blocks for the research. A method for systematically determining these important references is presented. Citation-Assisted Background (CAB) is based on the assumption that important documents tend to be highly cited. Application of CAB to the field of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) research is presented. While CAB is a highly systematic approach for identifying highly cited references, it is not a substitute for the judgment of the researchers, and serves as a supplement.